Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived at Manila’s international airport on Saturday ahead of the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
Carney told reporters on the sidelines of a regional summit in Manila that Ottawa had successfully concluded negotiations for a sweeping free-trade pact with the Philippines. Canada wants to reduce its economic reliance on the United States as a trade war ruptures one of the world’s closest partnerships.
Total trade between the two countries stood at about $2.4 billion in 2025. Carney expects that commerce to triple over the next decade.
The deal will eliminate over 90 percent of tariff lines and span sectors from agriculture to artificial intelligence. Carney called the agreement the most comprehensive accord the Philippines has signed.
Carney announced that a broader agreement with the entire 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations is substantially concluded. That pact would mark the bloc’s first trade agreement outside of Asia.
Two-way trade with ASEAN exceeds $50 billion a year, jumping nearly 25 percent over the past year.
Manila separately confirmed it expects its bilateral trade pact to be completed in the coming year.
“Part of a strategy of developing a dense web of reliable partners to create more opportunities … and reducing our relative reliance on the United States,” Carney said.
Carney maintains that trade with the United States will not return to a pre-Trump normal. US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have pinched multiple sectors in Canada, even as September trade data showed a slight surplus driven by higher oil exports.
Carney’s multi-nation trip continues next to Phnom Penh for a Francophonie summit. He will then travel north to Shenzhen for annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings.
“[He] will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss Canada’s trade commitments with Beijing,” Carney said.
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